BUSINESS

Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (12:11): It is seconded. I want to start by commending the Leader of the Opposition for moving this suspension of standing orders. It is so important for so many Australians who are looking on this parliament right now—after a train-wreck budget that has put to an end so many people's aspirations and ambitions because the Treasurer and the Prime Minister can't keep their greedy mitts off people's hip pockets and wallets—to get a sense of relief, because there are so many people who make an effort to back themselves and to get ahead, to save, to invest, to build a future and retirement security for themselves, and the government can't control themselves.

We know that this is a tax. The widows tax is not a tax that existed before the budget; it was a tax introduced in the federal budget. And it was only when it was exposed that the government was coming after grieving widows, the victims of domestic violence and those who are experiencing the horrible consequences of divorce and death that the government turned around and said they're going to do something about this tax, but where is it?

We're here to have the discussion, have the debate, pass the legislation and repeal the tax right now. But the government don't want to. It's almost like they want to play politics with grieving widows, the victims of domestic violence and those with debt, and that is the tragedy.

We're happy to have a debate here. We're happy to bring it on right now. It's only a question of whether the government rise to the challenge and actually honour their word.

I do concede that they have not said they are going to introduce this change 50 times over but maybe for once they could actually honour their word. There are so many Australians who are looking at this parliament and looking at their smashed dreams, especially if they're in small business, as the Leader of the Opposition outlined. On housing, on rents, we have seen tax after tax after tax and it's just a disgrace that the government cannot help themselves but to hit widows in their hip pockets.

We need change and, as the Leader of the Opposition quite rightly outlined, the time is now. But the only reason this government won't do it is because they want to keep the money off grieving widows and, of course, the victims of domestic violence and those who have lost their spouses. This is a disgrace.

They could change it now. They want the tax revenue because they can't control their spending addiction. I know the member for Sturt during the winter recess had a number of things to say, highlighting the absurdities and the inconsistencies of the government's budget.

She wrote to her constituents, pleading, begging for support after, quite justifiably, constituents had written to her and said, 'If the objective is to make housing affordability for first homeowners better, why are you hitting my small business? Why are you hitting my investments? Why are you hitting widows with new taxes?

And, of course, in a desperate plea to try and explain it away, she said, 'Actually, you're right. It doesn't make any sense.' So where in the chamber right now is the member for Sturt, to vote on this legislation? I know the member for Hindmarsh, the Minister for Health and Ageing, is out there trying to wangle his way over to the chair right there, and maybe he's brought a prime-ministerial discipline to the member for Sturt and expelled her from the chamber.

But now is the time. If the members just brought on the debate, brought on a vote, we could repeal this tax right here, right now, so we had a pathway forward. I know the members on the government side won't like these changes, particularly the amendments that have rightly been put forward by the Leader of the Opposition, because, if they were passed, it would mean lower taxes on Australians, it would mean the legislation of the tax-back guarantee, and, most importantly, it would mean that the government weren't able to be the silent thief in the night on inflation by adding new taxes.

That's what we have in our plan as part of making sure that there is a better pathway forward for this government. What we know is this government, at every point, has gone after the hip pockets of Australians. Every time they've had a chance to increase a tax, they've gone about doing so.

Every time they've been able to find a vulnerable section of the community or somebody who's backing themselves to get ahead or somebody who's actually employing the next generation of Australians, their only solution has been, 'How do we take our share of those people's incomes, growth and wealth?' because they can't manage their spending addiction. It's an old truism, but it remains the same: when they run out of money, they come after yours.

So I fully support this suspension of standing orders, and I hope the members opposite will bring on debate and save Australia's widows.